Why you need a Pitch as an Online Language Teacher

When you can talk about your why and effortlessly describe your bigger statements with clarity and confidence, opportunities will start to pop up.

When they do, people who are interested will want to know more about you and how they can work with you.

That's why you need a pitch.

Your pitch is incredibly important. You might think of a pitch as something that innovators use when they want to secure large-scale investments (like in the TV programme Dragon’s Den), and you might think that it feels too commercial or corporate. But a persuasive pitch inspires people.

It opens doors.

Consider this: most people you meet have a network of over 250 people. A great pitch will make people remember you and recommend your name to others. If you really inspire them, they may tell their friends about you, or even post on social media about you. Or they may offer to help in some way.

You’re actually pitching every time someone asks you what you do!

A great pitch will also guide you in your content and material design, when you write copy and blog posts, and make sure you’re focused and clear in your communication with the world.

Now you’re ready to create bigger statements about what you can do for your clients. Focus on filling in these blanks:

I believe in/My passion is [Why-theme]

I help [Client]

How to [What they will learn]

So they can [Benefits]

For example, my why-statement looks like this:

To inspire communication and cultural exchange,

so that we can build bridges and increase empathy and understanding.

I have used a theme of communication, cultural exchange and building bridges to communicate what I believe in, to make a bigger statement that also includes what I do and the benefits of that.

My bigger statement looks like this:

I believe in communication, cultural exchange and building bridges.

I help language teachers and wannabe language teachers how to set up their own online language business online, so they can share their language and culture across the world.

What is yours?

This will become the core element of your pitch.

If you try out a pitch on someone and don’t get the response you were looking for, don’t worry. It might be that you have expressed yourself a bit unclearly. Perhaps what you meant to say didn’t quite come out the way you wanted it to. It takes practice! Or it could be that what you said doesn’t resonate with the other person. If so, that’s fine too!

You can’t please everyone. And those who don't believe in the same thing as you are not the people you’ll be working with in the future anyway. Just move on and know that there is someone else out there with which your message will resonate.

It’s good to practice your pitch regularly and a great opportunity when you meet people you don’t already know. When someone asks you what you do; try out your pitch. If you do this, you’ll be well rehearsed and ready to go if/when you get a bigger opportunity to talk about your work.